Expansion
Soon store after store was being built in Seattle, and it was time to expand to another state. Marvin Shelby, a long time friend of the Powells, told Homer that Hawaii would be a great opportunity to expand to next. He felt that Wigwam would have few competitors and would have great success amongst the native population. Homer and the partners took his advice and opened up their first store in Hawaii one year before it became a state in 1958. Homer needed then a manager to oversee the whole Hawaiian sector of the company. He chose Marvin Shelby, who was the inspiration for the move in the first place. The store had even more success than it did in Seattle.
At Wigwam’s peak in Hawaii there were a total of 15 stores. Some of them were called Dodies, a local chain of department stores that Wigwam bought out. All the stores are filled with stories that add to the character of the company. The stores in Hawaii were a huge success amongst the local population, which is rare considering the resistance of Americanism throughout the state’s history.
The Wigwam Company was always trying to come up with innovative ways to bring about business. In the Hawaiian stores, the company would have carnivals in the parking lot. The company even on a few occasions would bring in elephants and other exotic animals to entertain the customers. Wigwam advertised on every medium possible. They ran television and radio commercials. The company placed ads and coupons in newspapers where their stores were located. They also advertised in magazines when possible. One of their more unusual ways they used to publicize the company was in Hawaii when they hired a local radio disk jockey that wanted to break a world record. He wanted to see if he could talk on the air without falling asleep for two entire weeks. Homer Powell opened one of his stores in Honolulu to him where he could broadcast. This way the local population could participate in breaking the world record by helping him stay awake while he was locked in the store during and after store hours. With the help of Wigwam he was able to break the world record.
Read more about this topic: Wigwam Stores Inc.
Famous quotes containing the word expansion:
“We are caught up Mr. Perry on a great wave whether we will or no, a great wave of expansion and progress. All these mechanical inventions—telephones, electricity, steel bridges, horseless vehicles—they are all leading somewhere. It’s up to us to be on the inside in the forefront of progress.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The fundamental steps of expansion that will open a person, over time, to the full flowering of his or her individuality are the same for both genders. But men and women are rarely in the same place struggling with the same questions at the same age.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)
“Every expansion of government in business means that government in order to protect itself from the political consequences of its errors and wrongs is driven irresistibly without peace to greater and greater control of the nation’s press and platform. Free speech does not live many hours after free industry and free commerce die.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)